Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations Bob Carter speaks about the state of the industry as well as the company’s upcoming products at the J.P. Morgan Auto Conference in New York on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014.

Filed under: Plants/Manufacturing , Toyota They say everything is bigger in Texas, and apparently that includes the Toyota’s effect on the economy. The giant Japanese automaker’s new headquarters in Plano, TX, will add an estimated $7.2 billion to the state over the next 10 years, according to a new study commissioned by the city and cited by Bloomberg . The benefits appear to be an absolute steal compared to the direct incentives that Plano and the state are giving Toyota . The report finds that by the time the automaker’s campus is complete in 2018, it could have 3,650 full-time workers there at an average salary of $104,000. The city has prepared $6.75 million in grants, plus property tax discounts, according to Bloomberg . In addition to that, the state is offering the business $40 million in incentives from its Texas Enterprise Fund. This is still a fraction of what Toyota is estimated to bring in. Toyota announced in April that it would move its US operations to Plano after being headquartered in California since 1957. The move affects thousands of employees from the sales and engineering divisions. The first workers will arrive there this fall, but Toyota will eventually have a whole campus in Plano by late 2017.

Filed under: Hirings/Firings/Layoffs , Plants/Manufacturing , Toyota Toyota’s North American CEO Jim Lentz has already given us a rough idea of what prompted the company’s surprise move to the Dallas suburb of Plano, TX from its longstanding headquarters in Torrance, CA. A new story from The Los Angeles Times , though, delivers even more detail from Lentz on the reasoning for the move, what other cities were considered and why the company’s current host city wasn’t even in the running. Of course, one of the more popular reasons being bandied about includes the $40 million Texas was set to give the company for the move, as well as the state’s generous tax rates. According to Lentz, though, the reason Toyota chose Plano over a group of finalists made up of Atlanta, Charlotte and Denver, was far simpler than that – it was about consolidating its marketing, sales, engineering and production teams in a region that’s closer to the company’s seat of manufacturing in the south. “It doesn’t make sense to have oversight of manufacturing 2,000 miles away from where the cars were made,” Lentz told The Times. “Geography is the reason not to have our headquarters in California.” Geography isn’t the only reason, though. Toyota is aiming for a more harmonious coming together of its far-flung and disparate divisions, which is something that couldn’t be provided by moving everyone to Torrance. “We needed a neutral site,” Lentz said, pointing out that moving engineering employees based in Kentucky to Torrance could give the impression that “sales was taking over.” Lentz said a conversation with Global President Akio Toyoda kick started the idea of moving, as the company sought to organize its North American business “for the next 50 years.” As for why Plano won, there are a number of reasons, one of which was the area’s cost of living. According to The Times , the average house in the LA area costs $515,000 – in Dallas, it’s less than half that, at $217,500. Toyota also considered the climate, access to direct flights to Japan (Plano is served by the sprawling Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport) and the quality of the area’s schools as factors behind Plano’s victory.

Filed under: Government/Legal , Toyota , Earnings/Financials Toyota’s surprising announcement on Monday that it will move its North American headquarters from Torrance, CA location to the Dallas suburb of Plano, TX is allegedly not due to any political wrangling from the state’s Republican governor, Rick Perry. Perry (above) has been up front in his aggressive pursuit of businesses and jobs for Texas, traveling to California, Missouri, Illinois and New York to tempt corporations to his state. And it’s not just about the promise of much lower taxes, a Perry spokesman reminds Automotive News that the state boasts, “a workforce that is skilled and ready to do any job.” For his part, Jim Lentz , Toyota’s North American CEO said Plano was chosen through an internal process, with the location helped by its proximity to the company’s massive pickup factory in San Antonio rather than any campaigning from the governor. Lentz explained the selection process that led to Toyota choosing the Lone Star State as its new headquarters to Automotive News : “When we made the decision that we weren’t going to go to one of our three existing locations, our search started with about 100 different cities. We put together a decision matrix that put together economic considerations, business considerations, associate considerations,” Lentz says. That left the company with 100 cities, which were pared down to 25, then down to seven, which were then split between four “primary locations” and three “secondary locations.” Lentz wouldn’t elaborate on what other cities were competing with Plano. “We visited all four of those primary locations and it became quite clear that [Dallas] was the primary choice,” Lentz told Automotive News . As The Wall Street Journal points out , however, Toyota is clearly getting a sweet deal to make the move south, including hefty state incentives out of the Texas Enterprise Fund to the tune of $40 million dollars – an estimated $10,000 per job. The WSJ notes that the latter figure is “one of the largest incentives handed out in the decade-old program and cost more per job than any other large award.” HQ move based on study, not pitch from Gov. Perry, Toyota says originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 29 Apr 2014 14:15:00 EST.

DETROIT, Michigan (Jan. 13, 2014) – The first design center established in North America by a Japanese automaker, Toyota’s Calty Design Research began as a bold experiment on October 2, 1973 in El Segundo, California.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (September 29, 2011) – State and local officials joined Toyota team members and executives today to mark the start of four-cylinder engine production at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama, Inc. (TMMAL).